When assessing the proficiency of speakers in reading passages of connected text (e.g., analyzing the speaking ability of a non-native speaker to read aloud scripted (low entropy) text), certain dimensions of the speech are traditionally analyzed. For example, proficiency assessments often measure the reading accuracy of the speaker by considering reading errors on the word level, such as insertions, deletions, or substitutions of words compared to the reference text or script. Other assessments may measure the fluency of the speaker, determining whether the passage is well paced in terms of speaking rate and distribution of pauses and free of disfluencies such as fillers or repetitions. Still other assessments may analyze the pronunciation of the speaker by determining whether the spoken words are pronounced correctly on a segmental level, such as on an individual phone level.
While analyzing these dimensions of speech provides some data for assessing a speaker's ability, these dimensions are unable to provide a complete and accurate appraisal of the speaker's discourse capability.